1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the epoxidation of olefins by hydrogen peroxide in fluorinated alcohols in the presence of a soluble transition metal compound and a soluble nitrogen-containing organic compound.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that olefins can be epoxidized using hydrogen peroxide in organic solvents in the presence of a transition metal compound and a nitrogen-containing carbon compound. Alcohols have been suggested and used as a solvent for epoxidation but not when hydrogen peroxide was the reactant (U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,451 issued Dec. 11, 1973). The use of an alcohol in which all of the reactants and catalysts are soluble would greatly enhance the production of epoxide when using hydrogen peroxide but hitherto all alcohols employed were subject to oxidation and therefore interfered with the production of epoxide. For example, the epoxidation of propylene to propylene oxide with H.sub.2 O.sub.2 in isopropyl alcohol is not possible under normal epoxidation conditions.
The present invention is an olefin epoxidation process in an alcoholic organic solvent in which all of the reactants and catalysts are soluble.
The epoxides made by this process may be utilized in the production of certain polymers such as polyoxyethylene and polyoxypropylene or as resin forming monomers such as epichlorohydrin.